To a Daughter Leaving Home

The poem’s form and meter fit within its timeline as a late Modern/Contemporary work, relying on devices other than typical formal structure for its internal organization. Within its free verse composition, line lengths maintain some consistency, most lines made up of only two stressed syllables. Lines with one or three stressed syllables are textually significant, often mirroring the action of the narrative, as with breathlessness of the speaker (Lines 12-14) or the increasing distance of the girl on the bicycle (Line 17). Most lines are enjambed, often in unexpected, less natural line breaks, adding to the breathless and halting tone the speaker takes on as she describes both the young rider’s efforts to find stability and her own struggle to remain steady alongside her. As with many free verse poems, the poem’s physical shape on the page constitutes a feature of its form, its lines deliberately constructed to imitate the curving movements and circular images in the narrative.

As with many of Pastan’s poems, the narrative voice in “To a Daughter Leaving Home” appears to be a version of Pastan herself, at once both parent and poet.